The return of fiddler Natalie MacMaster to the recording studio
\nwas greatly anticipated, given her growing fanbase in both Canada
\nand the United States. MacMaster, one of the new generation Cape
\nBretoner\/Celtic artists, has already recieved acclaim and awards
\nfor her past recording, including a Juno award for best
\ninstrumental recording for her 1998 CD,
\nMy Roots Are Showing<\/i>. MacMaster’s new release,
\nIn My Hands<\/i>, doesn’t disappoint; a powerful piece of work,
\nit shows her continued development both as a voice for the
\ntraditional Scottish music of Canada’s Cape Breton region, and as
\nan artist who’s not afraid to take some risks.<\/p>\n
Cape Breton’s unique and somewhat isolated culture has produced
\nseveral young musicians of note, including MacMaster, fiddler
\nAshley MacIsaac, and family vocalists The Rankins. The area’s
\nfiddle playing is unique, an intermixture of the Highlands area of
\nScotland and two hundred years of Canadian development. MacMaster’s
\nmusic is partially the traditional of her uncle, Cape Breton legend
\nBuddy MacMaster, and partially… well, put it this way; the
\nopening track, “In My Hands”, is a spoken vocal from MacMaster, a
\nfunky bass backbeat, heavily overdubbed female background vocals,
\nand a virtuoso arrangement of the traditional tune “The Drunken
\nLandlady.” Authentic? No. Traditional? No. Amusing? Hell, yes.<\/p>\n
This sets the tone for the entire CD. For every traditional
\nfiddle arrangement, such as “Welcome To The Trossachs,” the
\nhard-driving “Gramma,” or “The Farewell,” there are departures,
\nchances taken, risks ventured. MacMaster dips into Spanish
\ninfluences with the brass-laced “Flamenco Fling,” drifts off into
\nsynthesizer-laden ambient music on “Space Ceilidh,” and blisters
\nthe speakers in her fiddle duet with Nashville legend Mark O’Connor
\non “Olympic Reel.” There seems to be no trail MacMaster is afraid
\nof blazing; she gives a brief nod to everything but heavy metal on
\nthis album, apparently content to leave that to genre mate
\nMacIsaac.<\/p>\n
The crowning jewel of this work, though, is the brilliantly
\nexecuted and flawlessly paired duet with American bluegrass
\nvocalist Alison Krauss, “Get Me Through December.” Krauss’ voice is
\npoignant and filled with a crystalline emotional clarity, and
\nmatches perfectly with MacMaster’s simple, expressive fiddle.
\nBefore this work, the two Rounder stars had never met, but their
\nmusical compatibility is immediate and breathtaking. Let’s hope it
\nhappens again.<\/p>\n
\nIn My Hands<\/i> is a creative, joyful, and magnificent piece of
\nwork from one of the brightest stars of Celtic music to come along
\nin a long time. Perhaps her roots were showing on the last CD, but
\nIn My Hands<\/i> is a roadmap straight through the branches into
\nthe open sky.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":25067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6107],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-36272","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-natalie-macmaster","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36272"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36272"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}